Good Photo of My Mate Cam in March 08

Sveet's 15th Birthday

Make Work Schemes

Today I have had an experience that re-enforces my belief that our systems of government are bloated and wasteful.

Recently we got a complaint about our dogs barking during the day - presumably when we are at work because they are fine when we are around. The plaintiff is obviously a completely gutless wanker because she left an anonymous note in our mailbox then called the council rather than come and speak with us like an adult. Here’s where the make-work scheme comes into its own.

Firstly we get a letter that we need to register our dogs after they recieved an official complaint. This is of course designed to make more paperwork and fees designed to keep a bunch of twats employed at the council managing a list of pooches so that on the rare occasion a dog bites someone they can identify its owner without having to get off their arses and do some investigation work. The letter states that we need to register our dogs within 14 days.

Seven (7) days have elapsed since the letter.

The council guy rings me up today as he is sitting outside my house and says he has lobbed around to tell me to register my dogs. My first question was why bother sending the letter if you are going to come around in 7 days? Just routine Sir! More like just routine to make sure that they can write on their reports that they did X number of house visits for non-registered dogs in 2008 and therefore justify their useless existence.

But no! There’s more.

He happens to notice that Jesse’s car is out the front of the house neatly parked on the kerb broken down but otherwise looking tidy. Unfortunately it is unregistered. This is illegal, of course, to have an unregistered car on the side of the road and he can issue me a fine. The fact it is on eBay and about to sell is irrelevant.

My point in all this is that when you have so many laws and those laws are “policed” so aggressively there is a self-fulfilling situation going on.

More Police = more crime is found

More social workers = more problem children/families

More Homeland Security = more things are classified as impacting security

People working these jobs FIND work otherwise their budgets will get cut. If you put more police on the road you will get more fine revenue but you won’t get anyone to respond when your car is stolen.

Its cause and effect around the wrong way in my opinion and I’m sick of it.

What's with the Easter Bunny?

One of the kids asked why we have the Easter Bunny?  I didn't have a good answer so I did some research.

Below is from the website www.allaboutjesuschrist.org:

The meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ's victory over death. His resurrection symbolizes the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him. The meaning of Easter also symbolizes the complete verification of all that Jesus preached and taught during His three-year ministry. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had merely died and not been resurrected, He would have been considered just another teacher or Rabbi. However, His resurrection changed all that and gave final and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death once and for all. 

However, Easter did not always symbolize Christ's resurrection from the dead and the meaning of Easter was quite different than what Christians celebrate today. The feast day of Easter was originally a pagan celebration of renewal and rebirth. Celebrated in the early spring, it honored the pagan Saxon goddess Eastre. When the early missionaries converted the Saxons to Christianity, the holiday, since it fell around the same time as the traditional memorial of Christ's resurrection from the dead, was merged with the pagan celebration, and became know as Easter. The meaning of Easter was also changed to reflect its new Christian orientation.

So in actual fact Christian Easter is the date of a pagan celebration which explains quite a lot.  What the website fails to tell you is that the Goddess Eastre (said "Ishter") was the goddess of fertility.  Hence the Bunny cause we all know what Rabbits are like when it comes to fertility!   So when you and the kids are running around collecting eggs from the Easter Bunny just remember that you are celebrating a pagan god.

It would seem that a number of our key dates in the Christian calendar are in actual fact pagan religious dates e.g., Christmas day is the shortest day of winter for sun worshipers where, in the northern hemisphere the sun briefly stops going lower in the sky and remains at about the same height for three days - three wise men - and then starts rising again as spring starts.  This is why Jesus is always depicted with a crown of thorns - the sun is behind his head.  

Its all very interesting when you look into the actual origins of these rituals and dates.  

Weapons of Mass Deception

For the few reading this that believe the Yanks went into Iraq to get those pesky weapons of mass destruction (otherwise known as Dubya's Mass Deception) I ask you to take a few minutes out of your busy day to watch this video. It is a speech from UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter. Clearly the desire was regime change and control of oil assets and a platform for domination of the middle east. WMDs had nothing to do with it and it was planned well before 9/11.

For those asking "where are the whistle blowers?"...Well here's a good start!

Me and Me Mates

When I went to Bob Wade's funeral we caught this snap of Cam and Geoff and I at Anne and Bob's house in Springwood.

Although it was very sad to say gopodbye to Bob, it was a highlight for us to be together and catch up with Anne, Johnathan and Jeremy.

The Hunter Valley

Last weekend Mel and I went to the Hunter Valley and did a bit of wine tasting (well I did). We also purchased some cheeses and olives. Here's the haul: